Category Archives: Bitpay

On September 24th, Lamassu announced the introduction of their new line of cryptocurrency ATMs to the public. Lamassu calls its new line of ATMs, “Sintra.” The ATMs herald a new line of ATMs as another crucial step in crypto’s march towards widespread consumer use and accessibility.

Growing Industry

According to CoinATMrader.com, there are currently roughly 3,750 crypto ATMs installed worldwide. Lamassu has been producing cryptocurrency ATMs since 2013 when they produced their first, which was called the Bitcoin Machine.

While that number sounds impressive, and the number of the crypto ATMs installed continues to grow steadily, it is important to put that number in context. Information from Data.gov, for example, indicates that there are over 5,500 bank-owned ATMs in New York State alone. Crucially, this ATM count does not include independently managed ATMs at convenience stores and other retail locations.

Cost

Pricing for the new crypto ATM’s ranges from 5,200 EU for the cheapest Duoro II model, to 8,900 EU for the highest price Sintra Forte model. The mid-priced Sintra model costs 7,500 EU. The Duoro II model is the newest model of Lamassu’s original Crypto ATM, and features one-way fiat to crypto conversion, while both the Sintra and Sintra Forte feature two-way conversion.

The new models offer a bevy of features, designed to make buying and selling crypto through the machines as painless as possible. The machines feature a sleek, futuristic look, and are all crafted in Portugal. The body of the machines is crafted out of 2.5mm steel for extra durability.

Owners of these machines can configure their ATM’s to take almost any major currency, and support conversions from fiat to Bitcoin, Zcash, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Dash.

While Lamassu does not directly facilitate transactions on the ATM, it does offer a backend exchange trading engine that can steer conversions to liquidity providers. Lamassu’s engine is currently connected to BitPay, Bitstamp, Kraken, and Coinbase.

Fees and Regulatory Issues

ATM operators have control over the fee structure charged by their machines and can profit by either charging direct fees or adjusting the spread charged by their liquidity provider.

On Lamassu’s website, the estimates indicate that a machine needs roughly $800-$1,000 worth of daily transactions to break-even. Lamassu estimates that the average monthly turnover on their machines is roughly $20,000 and rising.

The Sintra line of ATMs features numerous compliance features, but investors interested in purchasing and managing a machine need to do their due diligence regarding the legality of operating an ATM in their jurisdiction.

Prospective ATM operators in the United States must ensure they are following both federal and state laws. Bitcoin ATMs would currently fall under the criteria of “Exchangers,” according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. In turn, they must register as “Money Service Businesses.” If you are interested in purchasing a machine in the United States, this primer is a handy starting point.

As interest in Crypto continues to grow among the retail investing community, ATMs will likely be a key “on-ramp” for investors into the crypto industry.

What do you think of Lamassu’s New ATMs? Let us know in the comments below!

There are a lot of odd things you can buy with Bitcoin – spy gear, lasers, alpaca socks, and now, high-end deodorant.

‘Scent or Payment Method’

Deodorant maker Schmidt’s Naturals is the latest company to let online shoppers buy its products with Bitcoin. Co-founder and CEO Michael Cammarata claims Bitcoin has accounted for 5 to 10 percent of online sales since they started accepting the cryptocurrency on May 14.

“It’s starting to be a percent of sales more than we expected,” he said in an interview with Cheddar.

The all-natural deodorant comes in scents like lavender, tea tree, bergamot, and cedar and will set you back about $9, or 0.0011 BTC, a stick. Schmidt’s is the first company owned by hygiene giant Unilever to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.

Cammarata said:

It kind of was actually a last minute surprise. We got a lot of consumers that are like, ‘Can we pay with Bitcoin’? We were playing around with the idea a little bit and our tech team was like, ‘Should we do this should not do it?’

But he admitted they “weren’t that shocked” when the company’s social media savvy consumers asked to pay with Bitcoin.

“We have a lot of millennials and highly socially active consumers,” he said.

Shopping with Bitcoin

You can make purchases on Schmidt’s Natural’s site using Bitpay, a widely available Bitcoin payments provider found on Shopify and in popular mobile games by Zynga. When it comes to e-commerce and online shopping, Bitpay is the most ubiquitous.

But the service has had its fair share of controversy. Newegg is a Canada-based online computer and electronics seller that uses Bitpay. The payment provider came under fire last month when a Newegg shopper accused Bitpay of taking more than their share when it comes to network costs.

Regardless, Bitcoin is becoming more widespread as a way to shop online. And as Schmidt’s Naturals co-founder said, it will take consumers demanding more payment options to see it more commonly accepted.

“Whether it be a scent or a payment method, we are very highly engaged with our consumer,” Cammarata said.

What do you think about paying for goods like deodorant with Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments!

There have been some crazy things happening in the world of digital currency since our previous industry report. Is it possible that the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has been revealed? Los Angeles is now home to some new Bitcoin ATMs, and BitPay has introduced us to a new kind of credit card. Take a look at some of this week’s headlines below:

Editor’s note: Since press time on this article, news has emerged of Craig Wright backing out from his promise to move coins from early Bitcoin blocks. Additionally, his personal site has been taken down and replaced with a message stating his inability to handle the pressure being placed upon him.

Industry Report

SATOSHI NAKAMOTO

The identity of bitcoin’s mysterious creator has long been an enigma, but a breakthrough may have occurred as early bitcoin entrepreneur Dr. Craig Wright is now claiming to be the alleged mastermind behind everyone’s favorite cryptocurrency.

The Australian businessman came forward to give pressuring media platforms the latest scoop regarding his cryptic “alter-ego,” but not everyone is a believer. According to some, all Dr. Wright has to do to prove himself – which he’s yet to agree to – would be “using a real private key from the genesis block.” In other words, he must sign in via a private key owned by Satoshi himself. The news is apparently causing a strain of panic, and some are considering selling their bitcoins before the news supposedly causes the price to decline rapidly.

COINSOURCE

Los Angeles is a melting pot. It’s home to numerous cultures, businesses and just about everything else under the sun, but it’s now the proud station of seven new bitcoin ATMs from financial network Coinsource, which has launched several machines in cities ranging from San Diego to San Jose to Las Vegas.

According to CEO and Co-Founder Sheffield Clark, the company is experiencing massive growth, and interest in digital currency is higher than ever before:

“Our entrance into the Los Angeles area is the most important yet for both the Coinsource brand and for bitcoin enthusiasts in Southern California. The roll out of seven new machines in one go was a significant logistical achievement, but we are proud to bring so many more options for both novices and veterans of bitcoin. With more and more use-cases for bitcoin every day, we foresee a future where digital currency is used as commonly as cash or credit cards.”

BitPay the global merchant processor for Bitcoin announced a Bitcoin debit card during the Consensus event in New York. BitPay CEO Stephen Pair let attendees know about the Bitcoin-loadable Visa that can make point-of-sale (POS) transactions at brick and mortar locations. The card will available for $9.95 for anyone in the United States and loadable from any Bitcoin wallet.

BitPay Reveals It’s Bitcoin Loadable Visa

Bitpay’s new Visa card website says the service offered by the company can be used in at any store, it allows ATM withdrawals, and can be used online as well. The card will arrive within 10 days after purchase and once activated users can spend their Bitcoin with millions of merchants accepting debit purchases. The website lists nearly every country in the world but nearly all of them minus the U.S. is currently unavailable. The statement BitPay says is currently the BitPay card is only available in the United States and asks for an email to be notified when they expand.

The card can also be funded through direct deposit or loaded directly and Pair says at the Consensus conference there will be some fees associated with the Bitcoin card. Fees include ATM and over the counter withdrawals, ACH Debit, Overseas Currency Conversion, International ATM use, and a few more in the fine print. Managing the card is easy says BitPay by its on the go mobile application where the firm says it offers “detailed information for all transaction activity.” Bitcoin enthusiasts were elated to hear the card had a higher load limit of $10,000 as compared to the Coinbase Shift card. Cardholders can also withdraw $750 from an ATM and up to $3,000 a day. The card is issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank and users are subject to the cards agreements.

Co-founders Stephen Pair and Tony Gallippi have been continuously promoting the Bitcoin ecosystem since they founded the company in 2011. The business has raised over 32 million in capital venture rounds from seventeen investors. The firm still wants to bring Bitcoin to the masses and believes these debit cards will allow more adoption.

What do you think about the BitPay Visa card? Let us know in the comments below.

Manifold Technology is positioning itself to capitalize on the inevitable blockchain database industry. As Bitcoin’s blockchain technology continues to gain mainstream recognition from the very businesses that previously shunned it, large institutions still struggle to decide what to do with the blockchain. All they know is that this new technology is supposedly more secure, and they want to learn more about it.

Manifold Technology was founded by Chris Finan and Rob Seger. Finan was the White House Director for Cybersecurity Legislation and Policy under Obama and helped draft the President’s Cybersecurity Executive Order. The team started Manifold Technology because they were tired of the whack-a-mole life of building security tools. Since 2014, the team has worked to use cryptographic protocols to empower individuals and institutions via decentralization. Finan explained:

“Blockchain is inherently a security technology that allows for really efficient data synchronization and systems of record built on that cryptographic proof.”

Manifold Technology: Blockchain Security Needs Database Functionality

Earlier this year, the company’s Manifold Liquidity Platform joined BitPay, LibraTax, Ripple, and others as Blockchain-as-a-service options available on Microsoft Azure. The cloud offering of the Manifold Liquidity Platform is just a gateway to see what the technology can do for complex account reconciliation challenges. Manifold Technology is also working with the Royal Bank of Canada on their foray into the blockchain technology space.

The immutability provided by the cryptographic proofs used in all blockchain technology provides auditable security and allows for uncensored truth. Even those that think Bitcoin is only used for nefarious purposes must admit that the Bitcoin network’s continued survival is a testament to the security success of the underlying technology. Blockchain advocates believe that every company should be considering using a blockchain instead of a database. Hardcore bitcoinists take it a step further and posit that the only blockchain with any real security is the Bitcoin blockchain. Manifold Technology CEO Chris Finan believes that you shouldn’t have to choose between a blockchain or a database. “It’s a false choice,” he lamented.

Manifold Technology believes that a successful product needs to interface with the legacy database technology. This sort of hybrid blockchain database is the likely future for both of these technologies. Finan emphasized why a willingness to interface with legacy institutions and technologies is necessary:

“You can’t ask these businesses to completely re-architect their systems. You need to be able to plug in and work with all types of existing queries and workflows. The scale that we’re going to be able to reach globally is going to be mind blowing. It’s not about rebranding the legacy databases – You’re creating something new by adding immutability.”

It’s becoming obvious that banks want all the benefits of the blockchain without any of the negative publicity associated with its often misunderstood psuedonymity. Psuedonymous systems are actually quite friendly to compliance measures and Manifold has that also baked into their platform.

What do you think about Manifold Technology? Let us know in the comments below!

February 8, 2016 – Several lines found on Steam’s translation servers indicate Valve will be implementing bitcoin payment in their game DRM platform in future versions. They’ll be using the Bitpay API for handling in-store transactions. For privacy and security-minded gamers, as well as those in countries that suffer from region-locking and unfavorable pricing practices, this is a huge value-add.

Valve Lays Groundwork for Bitcoin Transactions

Valve is known for their comparatively open and accessible corporate practices — the core design statement of their industry-leading DRM and sales platform is to make buying games easier than piracy. They’ve always been forward thinking regarding developing their services, bringing real gaming support and development to the Linux ecosystem in an industry where open development was considered a pipe dream (pun most certainly intended.) It comes as no surprise that they’re bringing bitcoin to the gaming mass market before other mainstream DRM platforms are considering it as an option. There are bitcoin game-payment solutions out there, like Green Man, but having inline support for digital currencies is a huge step for bitcoin’s entry into mainstream use.

Bitcoin in Steam means more than just better chances of adoption, which is significant in itself for a currency that was primarily used for illegal transactions and duty-free alpaca socks in its earliest stages of adoption. People in emerging markets will find themselves able to access Steam as an option for gaming, where they previously were limited by a lack of payment provider support and region locking due to fraud risk. For those Gamers using Bitcoin already, it means a more secure way to pay for your games, without having to store your personal info remotely, something Valve has interst has vocally supported in years past. Here’s the full readouts from the Steam translation servers:

bitcoin_authorization_explanation
Bitcoin transactions are authorized through the BitPay website. Click the button below to open a new web browser to initiate the transaction.bitcoin_payment_tips_header
Tips for Bitcoin customersbitcoin_payment_tips_text
This process can take up to 60 seconds. To avoid purchasing failures, please do not hit your back button or close the bitpay window before the process is complete.checkout_payment_method_specific_note_bitcoin
Note: Any approved refunds for purchases made with Bitcoin can only be credited to your Steam Walletcheckout_receipt_pending_bitcoin_long
Your purchase is currently in progress and is waiting for confirmation of Bitcoin delivery from BitPay. This process can take several minutes to a few days for confirmation. Valve will send an email receipt to you when payment is received for this purchase. During this time you may continue shopping for other games, though you will not be able to re-purchase any products that are pending in this transaction.checkout_receipt_pending_bitcoin_text
For questions regarding your payment processing status, please contact BitPay [

Bitcoin Lends itself to Digital Goods Sales

The move makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint for Valve, too. Low overhead and accessibility reign supreme in mass distribution, so the features associated with Bitcoin payment tie in uniquely with their infrastructure, where the cost of physical shipping is eliminated, putting a larger percentage of overhead on the handling of monetary transactions. Bitpay has much lower fees associated with it than traditional credit card payment processors, and chargeback fraud and user information leaks are a lot less likely if their users adopt Bitcoin. It would not be surprising to see valve incentivise this new service once it’s ready for the release version of the client.

The most recent metric for the number of active Steam users is 125 million. It is currently the largest gaming platform in the world, with more than three times as many users as there are current-gen console owners. If bitcoin garners widespread adoption in this community, other DRM platforms are likely to follow suit, getting Bitcoin one step closer to a cash-like level of acceptance.

What do you think of Valve’s practices and acceptance of bitcoin? Make sure to let us know in the comments!

In the world of finance, there is no shortage of companies willing to process payments on behalf of businesses. Adyen is one of the most-valued European payment processing companies in the world today, and they have recently announced new partnerships with Netflix, Easyjet, and others. What makes this news even more interesting is how Adyen partnered with BitPay last year to work with Bitcoin payments as well.

Adyen Announces New Partnerships And Major Growth

With so many companies to compete with in the payment processing scene today, it is hard to stand out from the rest. Adyen is one of the companies managing to make a new for itself despite fierce competition. In fact, the Dutch company reported a revenue of US$350m throughout 2015, which is more than twice the amount generated during 2014.

In a surprising turn of events, the revenue increase is mostly attributed to the list of existing merchants relying on Adyen to process payments. A lot of these companies have been able to increase their overall sales, which is a good sign for online commerce as a whole. But the good news didn’t end there, as Adyen announced several new strategic partnerships.

Among the list of new partners are popular brands such as Netflix, Easyjet, and Burton. Considering how companies such as Uber, Spotify, and Facebook have been using Ayden’s services for quite some time now, the future’s looking very bright for this European startup.

However, there are some things that could prove to be a worry for Adyen in the future. According to founder Pieter van der Does, 10 percent of the merchants using Adyen’s services generate close to 90 percent of the company’s total revenue. While these numbers are not uncommon in the payment processing industry, the newly signed partners will hopefully help even the playing field in the future.

What sets Adyen apart from any other payment processor is how the company lets merchants take payments without going through banks. As a result, this creates a global payment ecosystem that works for customers all over the world. This also opens up a lot of opportunities in the mobile space, which represents close to half of the company’s transactions.

Bringing Bitcoin To Merchants All Over The World

Very few people are aware of Ayden also accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. During the summer or last year, the Dutch startup partnered with BitPay to bring Bitcoin payments to merchants around the globe. Or to be more precise, any of their clients would be able to accept Bitcoin payments in a heartbeat if they want to do so.

Now that Adyen has partnered with Netflix – who have hinted at a potential integration of Bitcoin payments in the future – the rumours are becoming more persistent. Even companies like Uber, Facebook, and Easyjet could start accepting Bitcoin payments as soon as tomorrow. Consumer demand will force their hand in that regard, and once enough customers ask for Bitcoin payments, companies will have no choice but to accept digital currency payments.

What are your thoughts on the progress made by Adyen so far? Will they help bring Bitcoin payment integration to more prominent retailers? Let us know in the comments below!

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